Saturday, November 1, 2008

In its letter to the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, Amnesty International called for immediate clarification of the reasons for the detention of Esha Momeni and for her to be released if she has been detained for her peaceful activities in support of the Campaign for Equality. It also asked for the reasons for the actions taken against Sussan Tahmasebi and Parastoo Alahyar and called for all travel bans imposed on account of the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression and association, or in order to limit such peaceful exercise, to be lifted immediately and for passports confiscated from human rights activists to be returned to them.

Amnesty International fears that these recent incidents are part of a systematic pattern of harassment and intimidation of peaceful human rights activists by the Iranian authorities.